Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins won't be rushing to add new faces

The Limavady man, who has already added Colm Whelan, Tadhg Ryan and Ben Doherty to his squad, only wants players who show the right desire to play for the club.

In fact, he revealed that he has been close to signing certain players only to pull out of the deals because he felt they weren’t right. Higgins also confirmed that the loan market is something he’s keeping a close eye on.

“I won't rule it (the loan market) out. This is a difficult window for the league and you can see it's slow throughout all the clubs, so we just have to be patient,” he insisted.

"We are constantly looking at and talking to people. There have been deals that we've pulled out of as well because when you get into discussions and you speak to players and agents, you soon realise it's not the right fit.

"Everything has to add up for both parties to play for us. We're trying to sign players that will fit into what we're trying to do.”

The 38-year-old believes the Candy Stripes squad needs more competition for places in certain areas, but he isn’t putting a time limit on when those new additions will join by.

"We've a couple of positions in mind that we feel we need serious competition for places so we're working on to do that,” added the Derry gaffer.

"We haven't got a timescale on it. Yes, in an ideal world we would like a couple in before we go to Spain but that's not always how it works. We need to be patient and get the right ones for the football club."